Reform against doctors

On the sidelines of the Ekho Moscow radio station, journalist Irina Vorobyova told me that in vain I am raising the topic of medicine as part of the election campaign, since in my (Basmann) district its level is high.

However, doctors in the clinic to which I have been attached are unhappy with wages. Both visitors to the clinic and the doctors with whom I talked as part of the June picket I organized for affordable healthcare, supported the demand to increase the reception time of each patient. Yes, and I myself see that in my clinic there are more specialist doctors.

So it was during the elections to the Moscow City Duma. And now, after the elections have passed, the Moscow authorities have taken another decisive step towards the elimination of affordable medicine: the number of medical institutions will be reduced. Employees of 28 clinics and maternity hospitals will be dismissed, and medical institutions themselves will cease to exist.

On November 2, a crowded protest rally was held against such a "health reform." Before the rally, official trade unions intimidated doctors, forbidding them to go to the action, the professionals lied that the rally was allegedly inconsistent. Then the Moscow Health Department announced Sunday "Health Day", obliging the doctors to be at the workplace. The leadership of the medical institutions launched an administrative resource. “The authorities are already warning a medical worker: if, they say, who is noticed at the rally, you can say goodbye to work,” said Alexander Averyushkin, a member of the rally organizing committee. In a word, the Moscow authorities took all measures so that every health worker in the city learns about this rally.

In the lobby, there are usually a lot of people in Dostoevskaya deserted station for about two o’clock in the afternoon, as is usually before large protest promotions. Some women enthusiastically shot this process on mobile phones. Despite the threats and obstacles, and also despite the cold, the Suvorov Square was fully filled, the flags of many political (mainly left -wing) and trade union organizations were recalled over it, the Yabloko party also took part in the action.

But most importantly, there were medical workers themselves here. There were random meetings of classmates of medical universities, and whole delegations stood from some medical institutions. Thousands of people - health workers and patients - came to protest against cutting the social budget and reducing the number of hospitals in Moscow. Both the federal and Moscow authorities reacted to the rally, promising that the opinions expressed to the shares would be taken into account, while repeating the standard spells: it is necessary to "solve problems not on the street." I am sure: if the doctors and patients did not go out onto the streets, there would be no reaction from the authorities to the discontent of Muscovites at all.

The system was invented by people who themselves did not use it who have never been to Moscow clinics, did not sit in lines and did not run around the offices, because they have the opportunity to be treated somewhere in Switzerland

I became aware from the doctors that in my clinic No. 129 on Ladozhskaya Street, they also gathered to reduce the district service - and this is despite the fact that no one intends to reduce the chief physician and six of his deputies, and their wages are much higher than that of medical personnel who directly provide medical assistance to the population. Now the therapist has 12 minutes to reception, the authorities are going to reduce this time to 10. And this is despite the fact that in 12 minutes you can’t normally inspect the patient, make notes to the medical card, and the elderly patient barely manages to undress!

You can not reduce the number of doctors to whom the queues are now! It is necessary to increase the number of medical personnel, raise the doctors salaries and, of course, significantly increase the patient's time to take the patient, so that the patient’s examination is carried out efficiently and comprehensively. At the same time, it is necessary to free the therapist from the functions of the dispatcher when he is forced to write directions to specialist doctors. They need to organize a direct record. In addition, it is necessary to improve the recording system for coupons, since in practice it causes a lot of inconvenience for both doctors and patients.

Last week, when I expected the therapist in the queue of admission, an elderly woman, who was sitting opposite, complained to the Moscow Department of Health. "Who came up with this terrible service system in clinics? No, did someone come up with this?" The answer to this question is very simple: the system was invented by people who did not use it themselves, who have never been to Moscow clinics, did not sit in lines and did not run around the offices, because they have the opportunity to be treated somewhere in Switzerland.

What to do so that officials hear our requirements? We must fight, create trade unions independent of the authorities and leaders, be sure to go out with social requirements to the street, otherwise the authorities will do everything in its own way: the social budget will be reduced to the maximum and commercialize medicine.

These problems relate not only to Moscow. The situation in the regions is many times worse, and the repression there is even tougher. The other day in Ufa, an independent trade union of health workers "Action" Andrei Konoval was attacked on the coordinator of the independent trade union.

To stop the collapse of medicine, and the entire social sphere is a task regarding not only Muscovites, but of the whole Russian people. I heard that on November 29-30, doctors will organize a large-scale action throughout the country, about 40 cities are supposed to cover. The struggle continues!

Nikolai Caucasian - member of the board of the Committee "For Civil Rights", member of the Yabloko party and Levsd. The former accused in the "Swamp case" was amnestied in December 2013. Candidate from the Yabloko party in the recent elections to the Moscow City Duma